20 Most Inspiring Movies Of All-Time
16. The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Inspiration. Triumph over adversity. Compelling emotion. All of these things and more can be found in Julian Schnabels award winning film. Investigating the true personal horror that is Locked-In Syndrome. The film both shows the extreme neurological illness from a first-person perspective before broadening out and showing the lead characters life before and after the stroke which has left him bed-bound.
The film focuses on Jean-Dominique Bauby, a former editor of Elle magazine who wakes from a stroke to find he cannot move. After initial rehabilitation fails, Bauby develops a language from blinking his left eye. We then visit him before the stroke to see a man who was selfish, cheated on his wife and, he soon remembers, was about to write a book. He decides he will still do this and with the help of an editor, writes a piece about his condition.
He remembers too the other people who were locked in just like him, from a friend kidnapped in Beirut to his 92 year old father. Eventually the book is published to great critical acclaim but, unfortunately, Bauby dies from pneumonia ten days later. This is a harrowing and painful film.
It is terrifying to realise that anyone of us could be struck down by this condition but the character of Bauby, through personal realisations, decides he will achieve his dream of writing a book and this not only shows the man triumphing over massive adversity, but also finding inspiration in others who have suffered similar fates. It is brilliantly acted and, through British playwright Ronald Harwood, the words given to the voices and thoughts of the characters linger with you long after the film has ended.